Criminal Justice News

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Mason Man Receives 80-Year Sentence for Production of Child Pornography

CINCINNATI—Andrew Faires Keith, 29, of
Mason, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 80 years in prison for taking
sexually explicit photographs of two children less than 9 years old who were in
daycare at his mother’s house and trading the images over the Internet.

Carter M. Stewart, United States
Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in
Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Division (FBI); and West
Chester Police Chief Erik Niehaus announced the sentence handed down today by
Chief U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott.

Keith pleaded guilty on May 9, 2011 to
15 counts of producing child pornography and one count each of transportation
and possession of child pornography.

According to a statement of facts filed
with the guilty pleas, Keith traded 15 photographs he had taken of him sexually
assaulting a child with an individual in Las Vegas, Nevada who then traded them
with an individual in South Carolina who was under investigation for trading
child pornography. FBI agents searched Keith’s Mason home and a storage unit he
rented in February 2011. They seized cell phones, computers, zip drives and
other similar products. Forensic analysis found Keith still possessed the above-referenced
photographs in addition to numerous other images of child pornography. Some of
the other images possessed by Keith included images of children as young as
infants being sexually abused. The total number of images is well in excess of
600.

“Keith continued to exploit children by
trading hundreds of sexual abuse images he took with others,” Stewart said.
“Because Keith used these images as a means of currency to receive other
images, the photographs are forever in the stream of commerce. They can never
be removed from the worldwide web.”

FBI agents and West Chester Police
arrested Keith on January 20, 2011 after a federal grand jury indicted him. He
has been in custody since his arrest.

This case was brought as part of Project
Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from
online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe
Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate,
apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify
and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please
visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

Stewart commended the cooperative
investigation by FBI agents and West Chester Police detectives, and Assistant
U.S. Attorney Christy Muncy, who prosecuted the case.